BioTest chips are used for a variety of purposes, including disease diagnosis and detection of bioterrorism agents. One type of BioTest chip includes a substrate, and a biosensor array that includes a densely packed, two-dimensional grid of biosensors positioned on the substrate. In certain designs, each individual biosensor in unique in composition.
Unfortunately, it is very difficult to accurately control the composition and position of each unique biosensor in the biosensor microarray. Existing procedures for manufacturing BioTest chips are slow, and as a result thereof, have a low-throughput and high manufacturing cost.
Additionally, in some current BioTest chip manufacturing processes, a unique mask pattern (“reticle”) is currently applied in the exposure of perhaps several dozen process layers. The cost of these many masks can be a significant portion of the total manufacturing cost of the BioTest chips.